€10.5m spent on agency staff at Galway hospitals

Expenditure on agency staff at Galway’s public hospitals has spiralled five-fold in just five years.

Hiring agency staff is an expensive mechanism used by hospitals to circumvent the Government embargo on recruitment.

Last week, members of the Regional Health Forum West were shocked to learn that last year Galway’s health service forked out almost €10.5 million on agency staff.

That was up from €4.2 million in 2013, and it was five times the amount that was spent on agency staff in 2010 (€2.1 million).

Galway City Councillor, Catherine Connolly (Ind), who obtained the information, said spending that amount of money on agency staff was “shocking”.

The total spent on agency staff across the entire west and north/west was just under €47 million.

“What’s worse is we have to pay VAT because it is a service they are providing,” said Cllr Connolly.

She said that it was not the fault of hospital management, because they have been forced to recruit expensive agency staff as the Government continues with its ban on recruitment to the public sector.

Cllr Connolly said it was a disgrace that so much money was paid to agency staff, when public hospitals are starved of funding, and they are precluded from recruiting more full-time, permanent, front-line staff.

Tony Canavan, chief operating officer of SAOLTA University Health Care Group, explained that the vast majority of the agency expenditure in Galway was paid to medical staff, which is consultants and junior doctors.

Of the €10.5 million agency expenditure in 2014 in Galway, some €9 million was for doctors, and just €1.5 million was for nursing staff.

He explained that the market for medical agency staff is “very, very competitive” and the hospitals were faced with the choice of “do I pay the market rate or do I have a philosophical debate about the market”.  He said the agency staff was mostly hired for unfilled junior doctor and unfilled consultant posts.

Mr Canavan signalled that from 2015 onwards there is a change in policy – the HSE has changed tack and said that it would move towards recruitment of staff rather than hiring outside agency staff.

Mr Canavan said: “A significant reduction in agency costs in 2015 is a priority measure included in the west region’s cost containment plans to achieve a budget breakeven year-end turnout. The 2015 staff agency budget for medical and nursing for the west region is €24 million, which is a 50% reduction on the 2014 out-turn of €47 million.

“During 2015 this budget reduction in the main will be addressed by the planned employment of medical and nursing staff and the conversion of agency staff to HSE employees during 2015.”

Cllr Connolly welcomed the change in direction and the commitment to turn agency staff into HSE staff starting from this year.